Wire nails are the most common type of nail used in construction and home projects. They are produced by cutting wire coils into predetermined lengths and shaping them into nails through a machine. They have replaced square nails due to their quick manufacturing process. Different types of glue and coatings can be applied to metal nails to prevent rusting and improve holding power. Nails are described by their metric length and width in most countries, while in the US, they are described by the size of a dime with the letter d following the size.
Wire nails are those that are cut and fabricated from a coil of wire. These are the most common nails used in construction and home projects around the world. A metal nail can be used as a fastener in almost any situation, from fixing hardwood floors to common construction processes.
To produce these nails, the wire is rolled up into huge coils and placed on a machine. The thread is threaded into the machine and then cut into predetermined lengths. Once the wire is cut to a predetermined length, the machine creates the head and tip of the nail through a series of programs and the wire nails exit the machine and fall into a collection container.
With the versatility in which flush nails can be produced, they can be used in almost any type of situation that requires a fastener. If the head is small, it can be a finishing nail, while larger versions can hold the two-by-four shot of a wall.
The nails date back to Roman times. Nails have been mentioned in the Bible when discussing the Temple of Solomon. Originally, they were made of iron and cut from sheets. These cut nails, or square nails as they were called, were flat and square and quite brittle. Trimmed nails were done by hand all over the world until the 19th century. Subsequently, the cut nails were largely made by machine.
The square nails produced have been replaced with wire nails due mainly to how quickly wire nails can be manufactured. The machine can be set for the desired nail length and type, then the desired amount. The machine feeds the rolled wire into the dies where it is cut and shaped into the desired nail type. Different types of nails can be produced by passing different types of wire through the machine.
Metal nails can be made with different types of glue applied to the nail shaft. These types of glue help nails hold materials together. Some nails have rings or spikes machined into the nail shaft to prevent the materials from pulling off easily. Others that are often exposed to humid weather are covered in a galvanized coating to prevent them from rusting prematurely.
Metal nails are described by the metric length and width in most countries. A nail 25 millimeters long that also has a diameter of 1.4 millimeters would be called a 25 x 1.4 (1 inch by 0.08 inch) nail. In the United States, nails are the size of a dime with the letter d following the size, e.g. a 20d nail indicates a 20p nail. The size of the penny reflects the number of nails that could be bought for a penny in England in the 15th century. The larger the size of the dime, the larger the nail. The d stands for denarius, which was a Roman coin much like a penny and was short for penny in England before the decimal system.
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